Lapse
by WeyrwomanAnna
Summary: Some lapses can be forgiven, while some cannot. Can this one be?
1. Of Time

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the time spent writing this.

--

Kagome walked home, mentally reviewing the day's test and worrying about how well she had done. Reaching her house, she pulled open the door and grabbed her backpack, calling out to her mom.

"Hey, mom, I'm heading out to the well!"

Kagome's mother walked up to her, smiling.

"Okay, dear. Here, take these lunches for you and your friends, okay?

Kagome smiled, taking the proffered lunches.

"Thanks mom. I'm sure they'll love them."

"Have fun and be careful, dear."

She shouldered her pack and left, heading for the well. She opened the door to the shrine and slipped inside, closing it behind her. She jumped into the well, letting the blue light wash up around her.

--

"InuYasha, you there?"

No answer met her query, so she grabbed the vines trailing up the side and began the climb upward. Reaching the top, she threw her pack up over the edge before pulling herself up, resting her weight on her arms as she clung to the edge of the well, catching her breath. Pulling herself the rest of the way up, her grasp slipped in surprise and she fell a few feet before she caught herself on the vines. She pulled herself back up and swumg herself over to sit on the edge of the well, eyes widenening in horror at the sight in front of her.

The ground was torn, bloody and burnt. Here and there, the telltale sparkle of jewel shard caught her eye. She stood, shakily, and moved towards the closest pair, only a few feet away. Her foot caught on something and she tripped, falling to find herself face to face with a charred skull, the flesh still clinging to it rotting. She screamed, scrambling to her feet and back towards the well, catching herself on the edge of it to prevent a fall. Her eyes wandered over the carnage on the field, catching on the now easily seen black and white bones dotting the field. She turned, dashing blindly towards the forest, only to crash into something, nearly falling over backwards, until a hand caught her shoulder. She looked up, eyes catching white and red.

"Inu...InuYasha?"

The hanyou snarled, shoving her away.

"Who the hell do you think you are, coming back after all this time?!"

"W--what?"

"You left, and left us to hunt Naraku alone!"

"N-no...I didn't. I wouldn't! I was here yesterday!"

"Yesterday?! You lying wench! If you were here yesterday, you would have been here a week ago for this, and months ago for the other battles, going back years!"

"Years? I...I don't understand. I left yesterday to study. I had a big test today, and I took it and I thik I failed, but that doesn't matter, because what is going on?"

"Like you even care."

He turned away, and Kagome caught his shoulder.

"Please, tell me what's going on!"

"You have NO right to know!"

"I do have a right to know! I'm worried about my friends!"

"FRIENDS?! You've been gone fifteen years, Kagome, how do you have the guts to even try to call us friends?!"  
--


	2. Of Faith

Disclaimer: Still don't own InuYasha.

--

"Fif...fifteen years?"

"Don't act so shocked, wench."

He watched as Kagome took a step back, blinking a few times he smelled her tears, but didn't care at this point. He knew she was trying to find the truth of his statement by looking at him. He knew he looked older, more worn, standing heavily on his right leg, resting the other one against the pain in it from that last battle. His left arm, heavily scarred, hung useless by his side. His right ear had a piece torn out of the tip, and a thick, jagged scar ran down the side of his face, from the hairline down to follow the line of his jaw. He scowled as Kagome took a step forward, reaching one hand up to tentatively touch the scar. InuYasha caught her wrist less than an inch from his face and threw it away from him.

"Go away, wench. You don't care, probably never did, and I won't let you hurt my friends. Not now, not ever. Got it?"

He turned away, leaping into the forest, ignoring the pain flaring through his leg.

_'Not even if you haven't changed, and you think you aren't lying. I can't let you hurt them. Can't let you hurt me. Not after all this time.'_

--

InuYasha slowed to a walk after a few minutes, limping slightly as he made his way back to camp. He passed the wreckage of Kaede's village, and spared a moment to grieve over the loss of one of his friends.

_'Rest well, Kaede. I hope you get to see your sister.'_

He continued past it, making his way to the camp on the edge of the wreckage. As he walked in, the others looked up at him.

"We need to move camp."

Sango and Shippo looked at him curiously.

"Why?" Sango asked. "I'm still to injured to get far, and Kirara might not be able to carry me."

"I'll carry you myself if I have to."

"You're in worse shape than she is." She glanced down at the two tailed cat in her lap, petting Kirara's fur lightly. "At least she still has 3 legs. You can barely walk with that wound, not to mention one usable arm makes things a bit harder for carrying someone."

"Kagome's back. We need to break camp."

"Kagome's back? You're sure it's her?" Shippo sniffed the air. "It really is her, isn't it? I can smell her on you. What happened, did she walk into you?"

"Ran headlong into me is more like. She was terrified of the battleground and the wreckage...She acted confused, too. Said she'd been here yesterday." He snorted. "She's a liar."

He sat down next to Sango.

"I can't let her hurt you guys again. You're all I have left. Please, can we move camp?"

InuYasha glanced from the woman on his right up to the (now) tall form of Shippo. The fox youkai wasn't looking at him, instead staring distantly off towards the well. He felt the woman beside him shift, setting Kirara to one side before trying to stand. He helped her, careful to keep from nudging the wound running across her back to her left side, trailing down the side of her leg. he helped her, holding her up. She whimpered slightly in pain.

"I...we...we have to see her, InuYasha."

InuYasha looked between the two of his companions.

"Alright..."

"Where is she, InuYasha? Where's Kagome?"

"Near the well, Shippo..."

The fox took off running. InuYasha watched him go. Carefully, he helped Sango begin to move that way as well.


	3. Of Family

Disclaimer: I just checked. I still don't own InuYasha.

--

Kagome leaned heavily against a tree, confused and scared. InuYasha was so mad...and he had left so suddenly. He was injured too. She had to help him...

She took a small step in the direction he had gone, hesitating. She stopped, and went back to the tree, sliding down the trunk to sit, arms wrapped around her knees and chin resting on her knees.

_'What happened? I was here yesterday, I know I was...'_

She buried her face in her knees and cried. A hand landed on her shoulder. She didn't bother looking up.

"Okay, I'll go, InuYasha, if you really hate me that much."

"It's not InuYasha."

The voice startled her, confused her. She turned her head, finally looking at the owner of the hand.

"Who...who are you?"

"You don't recognize me?"

"Should I?"

The young demon in front of her laughed bitterly.

"I wish you could...15 years is a long time to a little kid."

Kagome frowned slightly, looking carefully at the demon.

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm Shippo, Kagome."

"No, you can't be. Shippo is small, and has a fox tail and legs and you can't be him."

There was a small puff of smoke, and the young demon suddenly had fox legs and a tail.

"I managed to get better at transforming."

"No. You can't be. I saw Shippo yesterday and he was still small and a child and..."

Shippo knelt in front of Kagome, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"It's me. It's really me, Kagome."

He pulled her into a hug, a few tears trickling down his face.

"Fifteen years was a long time, Kagome. Did you really have to leave us? Did you? Was your time so important that you had to go and seal the well? Did you hate us that much?"

"I don't hate you. I never could. I loved you all."

"Then why'd you leave?"

"I was here yesterday!"

Shippo closed his eyes, standing, breaking the hold he had on her. He turned away.

"If only that were true..." he murmured. He turned back to face her. "It's been fifteen years here, no matter how long you think you were away, Kagome. For the first few days, we just thought you were gone for more school. Then days turned to weeks turned to years...and we thought you weren't coming back. The well was sealed, InuYasha couldn't look for you. We thought that maybe you were dead, though we hoped you would return." He closed his eyes again, tears shining at the edge. "And then you come back, a week after we finally killed Naraku. It's like you were waiting for him to be gone..."

Kagome shook her head. "For me, I was here yesterday. My mom handed me lunch this afternoon, and I put it in my bag and hopped in the well, and I was here. And everything was... changed. Broken, almost." She dug into her pack, pulling out one of the boxed lunches. She held it out to Shippo. "See? Mom made this for me earlier today."

Shippo opened the lunch, pulling the cover away, a frown creasing his brow as he looked at it.

"Kagome? There's no way this was made today."

"What do you mean?"

He handed the opened box back to her. Bits of blackened, dried and rotted food adorned the insides.

"No..." she whispered. "No...Mom gave it to me this afternoon..."

She dropped the box, curling up and crying.

--

Note: Before you ask, I have absolutely no idea where this is going. I had an idea, and by now, it's completely twisted around...so yeah. Read and review? It encourages me to write more :)


	4. Of Friends

Sorry about the wait on this chapter, I've been having writer's block from hell. Couldn't even think of a way of how ot continue this for a while. And this chapter still doesn't feel right, but it works towards the overall plan. Read and Review, please?

Disclaimer: Yeah, No. The only way I can claim to own InuYasha is if owning a few DVDs, and a stuffed InuYasha counts. Which, if you were curious, doesn't.

--

Shippo sat down next to Kagome, pulling her into a hug as she continued to cry. He looked up as InuYasha and Sango finally limped to the edge of the clearing. At Sango's questioning look, he shook his head sadly.

"She thinks she was here yesterday. She's having a hard time accepting that it wasn't yesterday for us."

InuYasha helped Sango sit down next to Kagome. Sango lifted a hand to put it on Kagome's shoulder, frowning and pulling it back towards herself at the last moment.

"Kagome?"

Kagome gasped and jerked her head up.

"Sango? Are you...Did you...Will you blame me too?"

Sango glanced sadly at her once-friend.

"Kagome...Why did you leave?"

Kagome let loose another sob, and dropped her head back between her knees.

"I didn't...I would never..."

Sango winced slightly, one arm moving to her side to cover her wound as she reached the other back towards Kagome.

"Kagome..." She touched Kagome's shoulder gently. "I just...I need answers. I need to know _why_ you were gone. You say you didn't leave, well, prove it!" She took her hand away, wiping a few tears away. "We lost so many people in that last battle...you wouldn't believe it. Miroku..." She stopped, a choked sob escaping. "Miroku's _gone_ Kagome. His own wind tunnel finally took him..."

Kagome's eyes widened as she listened, before she pulled away. "No..." she whispered. "I didn't leave...didn't leave, and now Miroku's dead and I didn't leave!" Her voice rose steadily at each word, until she was finally shouting. "I didn't leave! I swear! I didn't leave. Never would leave you guys. You're part of my family and..." Her voice dropped back to a whisper. "I wouldn't leave. Couldn't..."

She rose unsteadily to her feet, walking a few steps away from the group, before turning around to face them.

"You know i couldn't leave...you know..."

_'Could I?'_

--

InuYasha glared at the girl in front of him.

"I'm not going to listen to you, Kagome. You left, and you know it, and you're just trying to convince us so you can hurt us again."

He walked over to her, and grabbed her around the waist, throwing her over one shoulder as he stomped to the well.

"You might as well be dead, because of this, Kagome."

He dropped her in the well, listening to her shriek in surprise for a second before disappearing. A few seconds of stunned silence followed from his friends, before an angry Shippo plowed into him.

"What'd you do that for, InuYasha?! She was finally back, and you threw her down the well?! Go after her!"

The angry teenage demon shoved InuYasha throwing him off balance for a moment.

"No, you stupid fox. I'm not going after her!"

Shippo snarled at InuYasha, shoving him again, and making him teeter on the edge of falling.

"Shippo." Sango pulled herself to her feet, leaning heavily against the tree. "Don't hurt him more." She looked sharply at InuYasha. "Please go get her? I need to find out why. Not blame her for everything."

InuYasha scowled before turning to face the well.

"Fine."

He jumped down, and for the first time in fifteen years, made it through.

He didn't expect anything that would happen on the other side.

--


	5. Of Life

Disclaimer: Ah...Nope. Still don't own InuYasha.

--

Kagome shrieked as she fell before the light flared up and swallowed her. She closed her eyes as she reappeared back in her era, and with a sigh, pulled herself up the rope and to the top of the well. It was shut, but not barred.

_'That's funny..'_ She thought _'I don't remember closing it earlier...'_

Pushing aside her misgivings, she shoved it open and pulled herself out, stomping angrily up to the house.

"Mom, Souta, I'm home! That jerk InuYasha threw me back dow--" She stopped, frowning as she heard a brittle crash, and hurried to the kitchen. "Mama? Did you drop a dish?" She asked, looking at the shattered glass on the floor. "I'll help you clean it up."

She bent down, picking up shards of glass carefully, before looking up at her mom.

"Why'd you dro--" She stopped at the pale look on her mother's face.

Eyes wide, tears brimming, Kagome's mom backed away from her daughter.

"Mom? You okay?"

Kagome's mother shook her head, closing her eyes.

"It's just a hallucination again. Kagome's dead, it's not her." She whispered.

"What?" Kagome asked, curious as to if she'd heard right. "I'm not dead, Mama, I'm standing right here..."

--

InuYasha pulled himself out of the well, following Kagome as she stomped into the house, waiting out of sight. His eyes widened as he listened to the conversation.

_'I know I said that she might as well be dead, but I didn't mean it!'_ His mind whispered in shock. He walked a few unstable steps into the kitchen, reaching out a hand to place on Kagome's shoulder, and was completely startled when it fell _through_ her instead. InuYasha's eyes widened as he looked at his hand, then at Kagome, and finally at her mother.

"What is going on here?!" He yelped as he yanked his hand back. Kagome whirled to face him.

"What do you mean what's going on here?! Why did you follow me?!"

He reached out again for her shoulder, and felt his hand land on flesh this time. His eyes widened as he backed away.

"No...no no no..." He whispered, half in terror, half in shock. Kagome went back to ignoring him, thinking him harmless for the moment.

"What's going on, Mom? Everyone thinks I've been gone fifteen years and I know it was only a little while ago I went down the well..."

InuYasha crept forward quietly before sticking his hand through her again.

"Kagome..." he whimpered. "Look down."

She did, and saw the tips of his fingers poking through her stomach. He eyes widened as she turned to face him, pulling his arm out as she went.

"What the hell is going on?!"

The new voice startled them all, and they turned to see Souta standing in the doorway, holding a backpack over one shoulder. He was visibly an adult now, and Kagome whimpered.

"Souta..."

"Sis?" He took a couple careful steps forward, as if afraid she'd disappear.

"What's going on?" She whispered, afraid. Souta closed his eyes.

"You died."

--

Kagome sat, dazed, on the couch where Souta had led her a few minues ago.

"But...how, why...when?!" Kagome broke the silence.

Souta closed his eyes, bowing his head.

"It was...It was fifteen years ago today." He swallowed hard against the pain the words brought. "You had come home and grabbed your things, saying you were going to the Feudal era, and that you'd be back when you could." He laughed hoarsely. "You walked down to the well house. I don't know if you remember, but I followed you, pestering you to send InuYasha to play video games with me. You turned suddenly, at the bottom of the stairs, mad at me. You slipped." He stopped, too choked up to continue. He grabbed the edge of his shirt between his hands, twisting and worrying at it until he calmed a bit. "Because of the way you slipped while you were turning, you kept turning as you fell." He bit his lip. "You caught your chin on the edge of the well." He paused before continuing, voice thick with emotion. "There was a snap when you fell. I..I didn't want to believe it." This time, he was unable to continue.

Their mother picked up where he left off, voice trembling. "He ran in the house, yelling for help, to call for an ambulance for you. Said you'd fell. The ambulance came. Loaded you up, took you to the hospital. We were told you were dead on arrival, of a broken neck." She was crying now, they bother were.

Souta continued. "I always blamed myself, you know." He said. "If I hadn't been bothering you, you wouldn't have turned and slipped. And then you might still be alive."

"No..." Kagome whispered, shocked. "No..."

InuYasha looked at Kagome, his throat dry. "I...I don't think I blame you for being gone now..."

--

Read and review please :)


	6. Of Wishes

Disclaimer: Still don't own InuYasha.

--

"No. No no no." Kagome whispered, in shock. She folded her legs up against her chest, burying her face between her knees. "No."

It's all she had said for the last half hour. Despite all attempts to comfort her, everyone hit a dead end. InuYasha had left a few minutes ago, to return through the well and try to explain what the hell was going on. Souta sat awkwardly next to her, trying to soothe her.

"Kagome, Sis, c'mon. It's not that bad, I mean, you're here now, right?"

The litany of no's continued, giving him no sign she had heard. Souta sighed deeply.

--

"Dead?!" Both exclaimed, staring at InuYasha in shock.

"But she was just here, solid, and you and I both smelled her!" Shippo exclaimed, shocked. "How the hell do you explain that?!"

"InuYasha..." Sango said quietly. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yeah, when you're arm goes through someone and out the other side without them even noticing or feeling it, it kinda tells everyone that they're dead." InuYasha said bitterly. "I guess we know why she was gone so long."

Shippo looked shocked once more, dropping stunned to sit on the ground.

"I don't know what to do..." InuYasha said quietly. "I don't know what I can do."

Sango looked up at him for a moment, before glancing around the broken field around them.

"I know what we can do..." She whispered, a tiny measure of hope returning. "We can gather the remaining shards."

Shippo's eyes widened as InuYasha's jaw dropped.

"Of course!" He cried, turning to stare. "We know who had shards, so I can find what's left of them, and take the pieces..."

He proceeded to do just that, moving as quickly as he could as Shippo stood and quietly joined him.

--

"Kagome."

"No no no no no..."

"Kagome." Souta shook her shoulder.

"No no no..."

"Kagome, damnit, look at me!" InuYasha shouted.

Souta glared at him. "Shouting won't help."

"Too damn bad! Kagome, look at me!"

He was ignored as she continued No-ing. InuYasha turned helplessly to look at Souta.

"Do you know where the jewel shards she had when she died are?"

Souta shook his head slowly.

"She was wearing them when she fell, I know that...But they weren't among the personal affects the hospital gave us when we were told."

"Damn. We need her to talk." InuYasha grabbed Kagome's shoulders, shaking her to punctuate his next words. "Kagome. Where are the Jewel shards?"

She shook under his hands, and he felt a small measure of regret for yelling earlier, but it passed shortly when one of her hands moved, jerking something off her neck. A small bottle was passed to him, and he sighed with relief at its evident solidness. He opened it, pouring the last few shards into his hands, then frowned.

"How are we supposed to make it whole?" He glanced at Souta, who shrugged.

"Don't ask me. I'm the normal kid in this family."

Inuyasha sighed, before looking down at Kagome. Gently, he took one of her hands, pouring the bits and pieces of the jewel into it. He closed her hand around it.

"Kagome. Please, stop going crazy for a minute, and help us. Can you fuse the jewel?"

A tremor ran through her shoulders, and there was an almost imperceptible nod, before her fist glowed. After a moment, it opened to display the fused Jewel. InuYasha took it from her.

--

"This is a bad idea..." Kagome whispered a few hours later. They had finally managed to calm her down enough to say something other than no. "Selfish wishes will taint the jewel."

"It's not selfish if I still hate you for being gone." InuYasha snapped. "And fifteen years of hate doesn't leave easily."

Kagome shifted uneasily where she sat. "I still don't think it's a good idea."

"Shut up, wench." He closed his fist tightly around the jewel, thinking carefully how to word his wish. His eyes closed tightly, a scowl on his face. After a few moments, they snapped open.

"I wish that Kagome hadn't tripped and died fifteen years ago."

A glow pulsed from the jewel, lightly at first, growing with each beat. It matched his pulse perfectly for almost half a minute before it pulsed even brighter, whiteish purple light blanking out the surroundings.

When it faded, Kagome was gone. InuYasha gaped for a moment, before Souta glared at him.

"Way to word the wish. Now she's gone!"

"No..." InuYasha murmured. "It had to have worked." He closed his eyes tightly, fist closing even tighter around the hard ball of the jewel in his hand.

--

Read and review please? Next chapter is the last, I promise.


	7. Of Death

Disclaimer: Still don't own InuYasha.

--

His fist tightened around the hard ball of the as he resisted the urge to throw it hard against the wall. He growled as he opened his fist, letting it fall to the floor, landing with a soft _thud_ on the carpet. When it landed, another bright flash of light pulsed out, and suddenly he wasn't in pain. He held a hand up to his ear, fingering the regrown tissue, before dropping his hand to trace the scar still on his face.

"What.." He started, before being interrupted by a second flash. "What's happening?"

He looked across the room at Souta, who was gaping at his sudden changed appearance. The scar tissue under his fingertips felt more raised now, as if not as healed. His hand dropped to his side, as another flash pulsed out.

They came in regular intervals now, about once every ten seconds. He counted them, his fingers tracing the scar as it slowly regressed in healing until it was gone. On the fifteenth flash, the room disappeared and his mind spun into darkness.

--

He stopped dead in his tracks, glancing at his companions. Three of his other companions had stopped as well, while the fourth kept walking a few steps, oblivious.

"Sango? Shippo? Am I imagining this?"

The once again young kit hopped to InuYasha's shoulder, staring almost blankly at Miroku before looking down at himself, then oer to Sango and finally down at Kirara. All were healed of the injuries, and they all looked much younger.

"If you're imagining this..." He started, shaken, "Then why do I see it too?"

Sango was frozen, her jaw dropped as she stared at Miroku, one hand moving to her left side, pressing against it. Miroku stopped after a moment, turning to look at his companions.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

His words broke the spell and Sango almost leaped forward in her rush to make sure he was real. Shippo's eyes widened as InuYasha pulled him off, placing him on the ground before sprinting away. Shippo watched him go, a small shard of hope in his heart.

"I hope she's okay..." He muttered.

--

Souta stopped dead, staring wide eyed as his sister walked once more towards the well house.

"Sis?"

His voice stopped her as well, and her hands flew to her mouth as a muffled scream left her. She turned, running over to Souta.

"Is this real? Really real? What..How..? That shouldn't have worked!" She screamed as she dashed back to the house, almost plowing into her mother in the doorway.

"Kagome?" She whispered, holding her daughter at arms length. "Kagome!" She all but shrieked, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Mom, let go, you're squishing me!" She laughingly joked as she hugged her mother back. "I don't need to die a second time!"

After a moment, her mother finally let go, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm just glad you're okay."

A second later, a large red blur plowed into Kagome, almost knocking her over.

"Kagome! You're alright! The jewel worked!"

At mention of the jewel, there was a small flash from the bottle hanging around her neck.

"Oh!" She pulled out the bottle, surprised to see the whole jewel inside it for a moment before it faded away. She blinked, before looking up at InuYasha. "It's...it's gone."

He laughed, not sounding bitter in the least.

"Naraku will be _pissed_." He said, before grabbing her wrist. "C'mon, we have to get you safely through the well. Shippo's waiting, though with Miroku back, I'll be surprised if Sango notices anything else."

Kagome laughed, before turning to look at her mother.

"Is it okay if I go?"

Her mother nodded. "I want you back for dinner though. You have fifteen years to make up."

Kagome smiled at her. "Alright, I promise."

And with that, she let InuYasha pull her to the well.

--

The end. R&R? It couldn't have been that bad. This chapter was kinda hard to write, it didn't want to be typed. Thank you all for reading it, though!


End file.
